Falling Back to Autumn

Now

Decreasing clouds, cooler. The official Washington temperature peaked at 80° just before a cold front passed through around 1pm today. Precipitation was extremely spotty, with only a trace at National and BWI, and nothing at Dulles. Despite a northwesterly breeze, cooler temperatures will be slow to filter into the area through the evening as clouds gradually decrease.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Cool, drier. Under clearing skies, low temperatures tonight will be near 60° downtown to the mid 50s in the cooler 'burbs with much lower humidity. Tomorrow will be sunny and dry with highs in the low 70s.

For the outlook through the rest of the week and into the weekend, scroll down to Jason's post below.

Tropical Topics

Hurricane Gordon is racing eastward at 33 mph with maximum winds of 85 mph toward the Azores, where a hurricane warning is in effect. The storm should have enough forward momentum to hit northern Portugal or Spain. If it retains its tropical characteristics in doing so, it would be only the second such tropical storm in history, after last year's Vince.

Helene remains a large hurricane with top winds of 115 mph this morning, down slightly to 110 mph at 5pm. It is currently moving west-northwest. Persistence on this track would take it toward the Bahamas and southern Florida, but the models are unanimous in steering the storm northward and then northeastward well east of longitude 60W.

Mediarology: She Blinded Me with Science

Somehow we don't think the audience will be tuning in for the science when The Weather Channel continues the rollout of its new show lineup. Abrams and Bettes: Beyond the Forecast, premiering next Monday night at 8, will be a one-hour Monday-Friday program covering "topical weather stories by going behind-the-scenes of high-profile weather events live and on-location, in an off-the-cuff irreverent style." Co-host Stephanie Abrams and her "breezy style" were recently profiled in the Palm Beach Post. For an even more "breezy and irreverent" take on the subject, see monkeycube.com.

The following Sunday, October 1, is the premiere of The Climate Code, which was previewed recently in PM Update.

Photo of Stephanie Abrams from Palm Beach Post